never forget
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Naruto died five years ago and now Sasuke can't forget about him. sasunaru twoshot
1. never forget

Sasuke was laying under a tree with a hole in his chest. Naruto had taken him here after he had gotten injured on their mission and had bandaged him. now Naruto was sitting in front of him with his sword by his side while explosives were set off all around them.

"We have to retreat," a voice came from the radios they both wore on their necks.

"Alright," answered their leader. "Units 1 and 2 retreat. Unit 3 will stay behind and distract our enemy and then they too will retreat."

Naruto reached up and turned on his com. "I need someone to get Sasuke."

"Alright," their leader answered again, "unit 1 will help you."

"Yes sir," came a resounding answer from Unit 1.

Naruto waited a moment before he reached over and grabbed his sword and his mask. "Where are you going?" asked Sasuke as he stood.

"I'm part of Unit 3," answered Naruto as he placed his ANBU mask on his face.

"Please don't go," Sasuke begged.

"I have to Sasuke," he answered.

"Then promise me you'll come back," he said.

"Sasuke I…" he was cut off when a relatively close explosion went off. "I have to go," he said before he took off towards the explosion.

It wasn't until Naruto had disappeared when Sasuke realized that he had never promised to come back. Then he realized when Konoha ANBU were surrounding him that Naruto was placed in the same unit as he was. He was in Unit 2.

* * *

Sasuke and the rest of Units 1 and 2 had only been back a few days when the news spread that Unit 3 had been spotted close to the Konoha gates. All of the ninjas that had been on the mission had immediately gone to the gates to see the people that were returning. There were significantly less people than had originally been in the Unit and, of those that had returned, half of them were seriously injured. Many people, ninja and villager alike, crowded around the men as they tried to find their loved ones. There was many people sobbing in both great happiness and great despair.

Sasuke weaved his way through the men looking for one in particular, but he couldn't seem to find Naruto anywhere.

"Sasuke?" someone asked from behind him. He turned quickly thinking that it would be Naruto, but instead he found Sakura standing before him. She was a little cut up, but luckily she was one of the ones that was the least injured. He hadn't even known that Sakura had been on this mission, let alone on Unit 3. He probably should have known that she would be on this mission since she was one of the best medic ninjas.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. He felt bad because he really didn't want to know if she was okay. He just wanted to know where Naruto was.

Sakura seemed to know what he was thinking as she spoke. "He asked me to give these to you," she held out her hand to give the items to Sasuke. Tears ran down Sasuke's cheeks as he took Naruto's leaf headband and his beloved necklace away from her. "He said that he would have given you the engagement ring too, but that he wanted to keep it to remind him how much you loved him."

Sasuke didn't even answer her as he ran to his house where he cried his eyes out with the two items Naruto had given him held close to his chest.

* * *

For the next five years Sasuke always had the necklace tied around his neck and Naruto's headband around his arm whether he was wearing his uniform or casual clothes. No one ever questioned him or told him that he should take the items off. They knew that those items were the only things keeping him sane throughout all of these years. The only time anyone had though to separate him from the items was when someone suggested that he should bury them since they didn't have a body to bury, but Sasuke had immediately refused and turned away from the person who had suggested it.

"You need to forget about him Sasuke," Sakura said to him one day when they were out on a relatively easy mission.

"Never," Sasuke answered.

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed. "He's not coming back and remembering him is just hurting you." Sasuke didn't answer. He just stared at her. "Sasuke. This isn't good for your health. I haven't seen you outside of missions and when I do see you, you don't speak more than a few words. You have to let him go."

"Never," Sasuke said again.

"This isn't what he would have wanted for you Sasuke!" yelled Sakura. "He would have wanted you to move on with your life and be happy instead of living in the past and wallowing in despair." Again, Sasuke didn't answer her and Sakura finally let all of her anger and worry towards him take over her body. She grabbed a hold of Naruto's head band and it slipped off Sasuke's arm. She hadn't taken it away from him for a second before she was staring into sharingan red eyes and a hand was wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Give it back," Sasuke growled. Sakura almost didn't give it back, but then Sasuke's hand tightened and she felt like he would break her neck so she handed it to him. Sasuke allowed her to drop to the ground as he turned to head into the forest that surrounded them.

* * *

He hadn't been walking long when he found a clearing. As soon as he entered it he collapsed against the nearest tree. He couldn't believe that he had just tried to break Sakura's neck just because he had taken the headband off of his arm. He just felt that she was trying to take him away from him and that had made him snap.

Sasuke looked at the headband in his left hand and then at the right hand that had been wrapped around Sakura's neck. Maybe Sakura was right. Maybe it was time for him to give Naruto up and move on. Even as he thought this his hand tightened around the headband, not willing to let go. Sasuke suddenly felt anger at himself and he threw the headband away from him. His life was ruined and it was all Naruto's fault. He ripped the necklace off of his neck and threw it too and then allowed his head to fall down as tears once again fell over his cheeks and onto the ground.

It took Sasuke a whole five minutes to compose himself again. When the tears had completely stopped falling, Sasuke looked up and felt his heart stop. Among the tall grass he could only barely see the head band and he couldn't see the necklace at all. He rushed forward and picked up the headband, but he still couldn't see the necklace. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke fell to his knees and began searching frantically through the tall glass. He felt so stupid for throwing his most precious items away from him and not even keeping a close eye on them. He would never forgive himself if he lost them.

Suddenly, his eyes caught sight of a shiny object and he grabbed the beautiful necklace from the grass that had been hiding it from him. "I found it," he said to himself as he pulled both the items close to himself again.

"Sasuke?" a voice said from behind asked.

Sasuke froze. The voice was dried and cracked as if it hadn't been used in years, but he would recognize that voice anywhere. He closed his eyes, unwilling to turn to look at the owner of the voice only to find that it wasn't who he wanted it to be. He turned slowly and allowed his eyes to open. Sasuke stood frozen as he stared at the man in front of him. He was pale and much skinnier than he used to be, but there was no mistaking this man that stood before him. naruto was standing in the clearing with him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked again as he stepped forward slightly.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked in return as he too stepped forward. "Is that really you?"

Naruto smiled brightly and held out his left hand. The hand that proudly wore the engagement ring that Sasuke had given him five years ago. "It's me Sasuke. I'm back."

Sasuke ran forward and threw his hands around Naruto. "What took you so long?" he asked as he held the man protectively against him.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto said as he hugged Sasuke back with a little less force. "I've been sleeping this whole time."

"Sleeping?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded. "I've been in a coma. I've only just recently woke up."

"I can't believe it's you Naruto," Sasuke cried against him. "I've missed you so much."

"I dreamt about what my life would be like with you if I survived," Naruto said. "You're what got me through this. You're the one who helped me survive."

Sasuke stepped back slightly and looked straight into Naruto's eyes. "And you are the only thing that has kept me sane these past five years," he said as he put the necklace and the headband onto their true owner.

Naruto smiled as he took hold of Sasuke's hand and leaned forward for a kiss. "Can we go home now?" asked Naruto.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded his head and turned back towards where the camp and Sakura were waiting for him to return. "We can go home now." He led Naruto into the forest without ever letting go of his hand.

* * *

"Wait here," Sasuke said. "I have to go talk to Sakura before we go." He was reluctant to leave Naruto, but he felt that Sakura deserved an honest apology without Naruto there to distract him.

"Sakura?" he asked her when she entered into his sight.

"Sasuke!" she gasped as she turned to face him. He was relieved to see that she didn't have any scars. Though he knew it was probably because she had healed herself. "I'm sorry Sasuke," she said.

"No," Sasuke replied. "I should be the one apologizing. I overreacted. I shouldn't have tried to choke you."

Sakura gave him a surprised look. She hadn't heard him talk that much since Naruto had died. "Sasuke?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes Sakura," he nodded. "I'm perfectly fine." With that he began to gather his things.

"What are you doing Sasuke?" she asked.

"I'm going home," answered Sasuke.

"You can't do that," said Sakura. "We're on a mission."

"We both know that this mission is way too easy for two ANBUs, let alone three."

"Three?" Sakura asked confusedly. "There's only two of us Sasuke."

"I'm going to take Naruto home." Sasuke said as he started heading towards where he had left Naruto to wait for him.

"Naruto is dead Sasuke," Sakura said exasperatedly as she grabbed hold of his hand to turn him to face her. Sasuke was a little over a head taller than her, so when he turned to face her she saw that he was no longer wearing Naruto's glittering necklace. She looked to the side to find that he wasn't wearing the head band either. She felt bad. She had wanted him to get over Naruto's death. Not get rid of the items that reminded him of Naruto. "Sasuke," she said sadly. "Where are the gifts he gave you."

"I gave them back to him," Sasuke answered.

Sakura shook her head. "You can't have done that Sasuke. He's dead."

"He's alive Sakura," said Sasuke. "I saw him."

"Your mind was just playing tricks on you Sasuke," she said. She had seen these symptons in so many of the other people who had lost loved ones in Unit 3. It was only their mind wanting the person back so much that they saw the person.

"I touched him Sakura," he growled. "My mind isn't playing tricks on me."

"You have your sharingan eyes on Sasuke," she said. "They could have created a genjutsu without you realizing it. That's why you were able to touch him. He's dead Sasuke."

"He's waiting for me," Sasuke was starting to get worried. Sakura's words actually made sense to his mind and he didn't want to go back to where he had left Naruto only to find that he had never been there. "I have to go find him." He tried again to go to where he left Naruto, but he couldn't escape her firm grip on his arm without hurting her and he really didn't want to hurt her again today.

"He's dead," yelled Sakura. "He's not waiting for you. He's not coming back. He's dead and you need to get over him."

"Never!" Sasuke yelled even louder. He didn't usually raise his voice, but he was getting frantic. He had to go find Naruto. "Let me go! I have to go to Naruto."

"No Sasuke," said Sakura. "I can't let you go. Not until you give up on him."

That was it. Sasuke had to get back to Naruto even if it meant cutting off the arm of one of his best friends. He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai so fast that Sakura didn't even see it. Luckily, someone else did.

"Sasuke don't!" Naruto yelled from behind him as he wrapped his pale hands around the arm that held the kunai. Sakura was shocked. She couldn't believe that Naruto, the man whom everyone thought had died 5 years ago, was still alive and standing before her.

"Naruto?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm sorry," Naruto answered. "I know you told me to wait over there, but I heard yelling."

Sasuke didn't say anything he just wrapped his arm possessively around Naruto. Naruto accepted the affection without a word he knew how much his absence had affected Sasuke and now he planned to stay by Sasuke's side forever.

"Are you guys on a mission?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Is that really you?"

"Yes," answered Naruto with a sincere smile.

"But you're dead," Sakura said disbelievingly.

"No," answered Naruto. "I've only been asleep until now. I've been in a coma. I came back as soon as I was able."

"Doctors aren't supposed to keep someone in a coma for more than a year," said Sakura.

"Yea," answered Naruto. "They told me that they took me off of life support after a year had passed, but I didn't die so they just kept feeding me and let me sleep. They said I was very stubborn."

"Let's go," said Sasuke. "I want to take you home."

"Alright," Naruto said. "I can't wait to get home. Are you coming with us Sakura?"

"No," she said. "I have to finish this mission." The mission had actually been to help Sasuke forget about Naruto and now that Naruto was there it was over, but she felt that they needed to be left alone.

* * *

It took Naruto a week to convince everyone that he was truly alive, but then when he did there was a huge party celebrating his return. Soon after that he and Sasuke got married because neither of them wanted to wait any longer. It was a quick ceremony that was put together at a moment's notice, but practically the whole village was there. After that they lived happily ever after.

* * *

hey guys. i hope you like it. i was originally planning on making this a oneshot, but then i thought i should write what actually happened to Naruto so that's what the next chapter will be about.

i hope you all enjoyed. i would love it if you commented.


	2. never forgotten

Naruto sat in front of a large tree with his sword placed beside him. He scanned the horizon quietly as bombs exploded and fires erupted all around him in the forest. If this had been any other day he probably would have been mesmerized by the beautiful red color mixing with the normal greens, browns, and blues of the forest, but today was not a normal day. Today he was on a mission and today his fiancé had been seriously injured. Today he scanned the horizon to make sure that no one could get through to hurt Sasuke who lay behind him with a hole in his chest.

"We have to retreat," said a voice over the com around his neck. He didn't really recognize the voice, but he did remember hearing it once within his own unit.

"Alright," answered their leader. "Units 1 and 2 retreat. Unit 3 will stay behind and distract our enemy and then they too will retreat."

Naruto froze. He knew that Sakura was in Unit 3 and he knew that it was probable that none of Unit 3 would return unless, that is, he went to help them. With his capabilities there was a possibility that they would be able to survive. The only problem was that he couldn't leave Sasuke there to die. "I need someone to get Sasuke," he said through the intercom.

"Alright," their leader answered again, "unit 1 will help you."

"Yes sir," came a resounding answer from Unit 1.

Naruto gave a relieved sigh. Now he could go help Sakura while knowing that Sasuke would be safe. He picked up his sword and mask as he began to stand only to be stopped by Sasuke's voice. "Where are you going?"

Naruto cursed himself. He had hoped that Sasuke would already be asleep so he wouldn't have to explain himself to his fiancé. "I'm part of Unit 3," he lied. The only thing he could hope for was that Sasuke would be too out of it to catch him in his lie.

"Please don't go," Sasuke begged.

"I have to Sasuke," he answered.

"Then promise me you'll come back," Sasuke whispered. Naruto had to hold back a sigh of relief when he realized that Sasuke hadn't caught him in his lie.

"Sasuke I…" he was cut off when a relatively close explosion went off. "I have to go," he said before he took off towards the explosion.

* * *

It wasn't until he arrived at the main part of the battle where Unit 3 was being destroyed that he realized that this was going to be a much harder task than he had originally thought. Then he realized as more enemies continued to show up that he probably wasn't going to return from this battle.

"Sakura!" he called out amongst the people as he fought with Unit 3. He couldn't find her anywhere. He hoped that he wasn't too late and that she was actually just helping someone. "Sakura!" he yelled out again.

"Naruto?" Sakura gasped as she stood and saw him amongst the people. "Naruto!" she called out to catch his attention. As soon as he noticed her he made his way to her side. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help," answered Naruto.

"What about Sasuke?" asked Sakura.

"He was injured," answered Naruto. "Unit 1 is taking him home."

"You should have gone with him Naruto," Sakura sighed. "I don't think that we are going to be able to go home."

Naruto smiled at her. "You can go home Sakura," he said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"I want you to promise me something," said Naruto.

"What are you doing Naruto?" she asked. She was beginning to realize what naruto was planning, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it.

"I want you to promise me that you'll bring these back and give them to Sasuke for me," Naruto said as he took off his headband and necklace and handed them to her. He started to take off his engagement ring as well, but stopped. "I can't give this back. Tell Sasuke that I would have, but I wanted to be reminded of his love for me in my last moments."

"You can't do this Naruto," Sakura said as tears began to form in my eyes.

"The sacrifice of one life is nothing when it is to save many others," Naruto said.

"I won't give these to Sasuke. You have to wear them when you come back," Sakura said as she tried to hand the items back to Naruto.

"Please Sakura," Naruto begged. "Please do this for me as my last wish. Please."

Sakura cried, but she pulled the items back against her chest to accept Naruto's request.

"Thank you Sakura," he sighed as he stood. "I have to go now." He made his way to the middle of the battle field before he called upon Kyuubi for his help. He didn't have to last for long. He just had to last long enough for the others to escape.

Naruto gave one last kiss to his engagement ring before he began the fight that would most likely take his life.

* * *

Naruto was exhausted and very badly injured when the men that he was fighting finally retreated. Apparently they finally figured out that they couldn't fight a demon. Unfortunately, even though he had survived through the whole battle, Naruto did not believe that he would survive much longer. He could barely even keep his eyes opened as he tried to force himself to stand. He wanted to go home and see his fiancé, but he couldn't even force his damaged arms under him in order to pick himself up. He was just so tired. Naruto allowed his eyes to close after a while just as two people noticed the damage that he had caused to the area.

"Oh my goodness!" gasped a woman who had been passing by the area with her husband at the time. "My dear come look at this," she said to her husband who immediately came to her side.

"We should check to see if they're any survivors," he said. The man was a doctor and his wife was a nurse so they immediately felt that if there were any survivors it was their duty to save them. Even if the survivor was their enemy, a doctor's values are that they try to save everyone.

The two of them went through the bodies quickly without any survivors and they were giving up finding any when the woman came upon Naruto. She gasped when she found his pulse. He seemed to be the most damaged of all the dead bodies in the area and yet he was the only one who was still alive. She admired his determination and stubbornness because it was only those two things combined that was keeping him alive. "My dear," she called out to her husband as he checked the last person. "This man is still alive."

The doctor rushed up to her and they turned Naruto over so that he was laying on his back. "This doesn't look good," said the doctor. "I'm surprised he's even still alive."

"Well we can't just give up on him," said the nurse. "He's lasted this long. Maybe he can last a little longer."

The doctor nodded at his wife as he took out lots of bandages. "Unfortunately the only thing that I can do for him here is to wrap him in bandages. The rest I can only do at home. He'll have to survive the journey there."

"We still should try," the woman said determinedly. The doctor nodded and immediately began to work on wrapping the bandages around Naruto before they took him home.

* * *

Naruto woke slowly in a bed. For a moment of confusion he thought he was in his own bed in his own room, but as he tried to reach over to his left to touch where his fiancé would be the wall stopped him. He shot up and yelped when a wire connected to his right wrist was yanked out of his body because of his sudden movement. He was so confused as he looked around. Wherever he was looked nothing like a hospital room and yet there was hospital equipment around him.

Naruto tried to stand from the bed so that he could look around, but his legs collapsed beneath him and he knocked down the heart monitor. The doorknob began to turn and Naruto quickly reached out to grab the first weapon that he could, which was a random small tool.

"Oh my goodness," gasped the nurse as she opened the door. "You're awake."

"Who are you?" asked Naruto as he held his makeshift weapon before him.

"My name is Irene," she said to him. "I'm a nurse and I've been taking care of you."

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in my home," she said. "We found you outside of our village and brought you here. We were actually surprised that you were still alive. You were pretty badly injured."

"What happened?" asked Naruto. He remembered giving his headband and his necklace to Sakura and sending her home with the rest of Unit 3. He remembered kissing his engagement ring before calling upon the Kyuubi's power to fight the enemies so that Unit 3 could escape. He even remembered most of the battle, but near the end everything became a little bit fuzzy and he can't remember how this nurse came into the picture.

"We came upon a battle sight," answered the nurse. "There was many dead people, but my husband and I decided to look for any survivors. We were about to give up hope when we came across you. I even almost passed right by you because I thought that you were much too badly injured to still be alive, but, luckily, I saw you breathing just slightly."

"Your husband?" Naruto asked.

"Oh yes," she answered. "He's a doctor. We've been taking care of you together."

Naruto remained silent. He didn't know how to take all of this in. He didn't even know if he should trust this woman that was claiming to be a nurse. She could very well be working for someone like the Akatsuki and she could be running some sort of tests on him. But as he examined her he felt that he could trust her. He always had a natural instinct about these things. He remembered the one time that Sakura hadn't believed him about a man that they had met while on a mission, they had almost failed that mission because the man tried to kidnap Sakura. Of course the man got a surprise of his life when she beat him up, but she never doubted Naurto's natural ability ever again. He began to lower his make shift weapon as he watched the woman across from him. He had no choice but to trust her anyway.

The woman smiled as she saw him lowering the weapon. "I was going to feed you," she said as she held up a bag the was supposed to connect to the IV that had been yanked out of Naruto's arm earlier, "but I think after all this time you might want to have real food."

"All this time?" asked Naruto. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"Almost five years," said the woman.

Naruto immediately raised the weapon again. He knew for a fact that nobody was kept in a sleep for five years. They were all unplugged after a year of being in a coma.

"We did unplug your life support after a year," the woman continued, "but you just kept breathing and we didn't want you to starve to death so we thought we would just keep feeding you even though you were off of life support.

"I don't understand why you are doing this for me," said Naruto.

"In the medical profession," said the woman, "we believe that everyone is worth saving no matter what has happened to them and if they are willing to work to live as you have done for these past five years than we will gladly help them along the way."

Naruto didn't say anything. He knew that the woman spoke the truth because Sakura had told him as much before, but it had always been a hard concept for him to understand because he had always struggled through his life on his own. No one had ever wanted to help him so he began to believe that that would be the case all of his life. Apparently he was wrong.

Naruto finally allowed his hand to drop to the floor with the makeshift weapon making a loud clanging sound. He was just too tired to hold himself up anymore. He wouldn't be able to hold anyone back now. They could attempt to kill him and he would not know any better.

"I'll make you some soup," said the nurse. "Then hopefully you can eat it so I don't have to put the IV back into you."

"How long until I can travel," Naruto said as he looking down the beautiful golden band that was his engagement ring. It was lose on his finger now that it was so skinny, but he would still never let it fall off.

"Oh it will be months," answered the nurse. "Maybe even years."

"I don't have that long," said Naruto without looking up.

"I'm sorry son, but you have to gain at least some of your strength back before you even attempt to stand. Let alone travel," said the nurse. "Why do you want to travel anyway?"

"My fiancé," said Naruto. "He thinks I'm dead and I have to go see him."

"I'm sorry," the nurse shook her head. "I can't let you leave in good conscious if you aren't ready to go."

* * *

Five days had passed and the people who were taking care of Naruto were surprised by his quick recovery, but they still refused to let him leave so he finally decided that he would just sneak out. He really had to get home to his beloved fiancé before anything happened to the man. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to Sasuke because he wasn't by his side.

He waited until it was late in the night and he heard both the doctor and the nurse fall into a blissful sleep and then he waited some more just to be sure. When he finally trusted that they would not wake up when he tried to leave he stood and placed the note that he had written earlier on top of the pillow that he had just been laying on. It was meant to thank the two people that were taking care of them as well as to tell them not to worry about him. He highly doubted that they wouldn't worry about him, but he could at least try to put their mind at ease when he was leaving them without even telling them he was doing so.

Silently, Naruto slipped out through his window and crept away from the house that had been his home for the past five years. From their he traveled in the direction that he believed the village was for five whole days; only stopping for short breaks when he was too exhausted to keep going. When the five days were over and Naruto finally felt that he could not go on any longer, he allowed himself to collapse on the ground. Perhaps he should have spent some more time getting food for himself to keep him healthy, but he had been so determined to get back to Konoha that he had disregarded his own health. Now he was so weak that he could barely sit up. He needed to rest and then afterwards he would get some food.

Just as his eyes were closing Naruto heard a yell that was filled with despair. His eyes shot open immediately and he used what little chakra he could gather to search around him for a chakra signature. He knew the voice that belonged to that yell and now he only needed the familiar chakra signature to confirm his suspicions and tell him that it wasn't only due to his dream fogged mind. There! He gasped when he felt Sasuke's chakra signature and immediately jumped to his feet finding strength in the happiness that he was finally going to be able to see his love again. He made his way clumsily through the woods with his chakra always keeping track of Sasuke's signature. He couldn't afford to lose the man now.

Naruto finally made it into the clearing when Sasuke sat up with a successful cry of "I found it!" and he hugged something close to him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked cautiously. He didn't want it to be someone else. He didn't want it to be Sasuke and for him not to remember him. He didn't want Sasuke to hate him for sacrificing himself to Sakura and the rest of Unit 3.

Naruto could see Sasuke's body freeze when his voice reached the other. All the fears that he had always been worried about when he came back to Konoha entered his head once more. He forced himself to breathe normally as Sasuke turned to him with his eyes closed tightly. It was even harder to force himself to breathe as Sasuke allowed his eyes to open slowly. Naruto stood frozen as the man before him stared at him. He felt like the man was examining him and he could only hope that he wasn't going to judge him. He couldn't help but stare at Sasuke either. The man was paler than he was before and his dark eyes had deep bags under each of them.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked again as he stepped forward slightly trying to get the man to say something to him. Anything, even that he hated him, just so he could hear the beautiful voice that he had always loved.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked cautiously in return as he too stepped forward. Naruto could see the love fill Sasuke's eyes and he couldn't believe how happy he felt in that moment to know that all of his fears had been misfounded and that Sasuke still loved him. "Is that really you?"

Naruto smiled brightly and held out his left hand. The hand that proudly wore the engagement ring that Sasuke had given him five years ago. "It's me Sasuke. I'm back."

Sasuke ran forward and threw his hands around Naruto. "What took you so long?" he asked as he held the man protectively against him.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto said as he hugged Sasuke back with a little less force. He would have held the man tighter to him, but his muscles were so week from disuse. He was just happy to be in Sasuke's arm again. "I've been sleeping this whole time."

"Sleeping?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded as he remembered what the nurse had told him when he had finally waken up from his long sleep. "I've been in a coma. I've only just recently woke up."

"I can't believe it's you Naruto," Sasuke cried against him. Naruto felt horrible as he realized that he had been the cause of Sasuke's suffering, but he was back now and he would make it up to the man. "I've missed you so much."

"I dreamt about what my life would be like with you if I survived," Naruto told Sasuke. He wanted Sasuke to know just how much he had meant in his recovery. Just how much his love had kept him alive. "You're what got me through this. You're the one who helped me survive."

Sasuke stepped back slightly and looked straight into Naruto's eyes. "And you are the only thing that has kept me sane these past five years," he said as he put the necklace and the headband onto their true owner.

Naruto smiled as he took hold of Sasuke's hand and leaned forward for a kiss. "Can we go home now?" asked Naruto.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded his head and turned back towards where the camp and Sakura were waiting for him to return. "We can go home now." He led Naruto into the forest without ever letting go of his hand.

* * *

"Wait here," Sasuke said. "I have to go talk to Sakura before we go." He let go of Naruto's hand and moved towards the camp. Naruto was reluctant to let him go, but Sasuke seemed to really need to say something to Sakura in private and Naruto would always respect that. He did wait rather impatiently though. Shuffling his feet every so often and pouncing on the balls of his feet for a time before he was too tired to keep doing so. _"What's taking him so long?" _Naruto thought as he inched towards the camp. He was never known for his patience anyway.

Suddenly Naruto heard Sasuke yell, "Never!" Whatever was wrong it could be good because Naruto knew that Sasuke only raised his voice when something really was worrying him. It almost always had to do with Naruto too. He had to go find Sasuke before the man did something that he would regret. "Let me go! I have to go to Naruto." He heard as he moved as quickly as he could towards the smell of fire where he knew Sasuke and Sakura would be.

Naruto made it just in time to see Sasuke reach into his weapon's pouch and pull out a kunai. He didn't know what the man was planning, but it couldn't've been good. He rushed forward and grabbed Sasuke's arm as he yelled, "Sasuke don't!" Sakura was shocked. She couldn't believe that Naruto, the man whom everyone thought had died 5 years ago, was still alive and standing before her.

"Naruto?" asked Sasuke as he looked over at him. Sakura must have said something really horrible for the fear that Naruto could see in Sasuke's eyes to be showing.

"I'm sorry," Naruto answered as he tried to reassure Sasuke that he was there with his usual demeanor. "I know you told me to wait over there, but I heard yelling."

Sasuke didn't say anything he just wrapped his arm possessively around Naruto. Naruto accepted the affection without a word. He knew how much his absence had affected Sasuke and now he planned to stay by Sasuke's side forever.

"Are you guys on a mission?" Naruto asked as he finally remembered the only reason that two ANBUs would be out so far away from the village. He almost couldn't believe how selfish he had been. He couldn't allow Sasuke to stop whatever mission he was on to take him home. The mission was probably important to the safety of the village.

"Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Is that really you?"

"Yes," answered Naruto with a sincere smile as he looked over to her. He could see in her eyes the same haunted pain that he had seen in Sasuke when they were first reunited.

"But you're dead," Sakura said disbelievingly.

"No," answered Naruto. "I've only been asleep until now. I've been in a coma. I came back as soon as I was able."

"Doctors aren't supposed to keep someone in a coma for more than a year," Sakura shook her head.

"Yea," answered Naruto. He knew that just as well as she did because he had been there for her on many occasions where she had had to pull out the life support of some of the victims. "They told me that they took me off of life support after a year had passed, but I didn't die so they just kept feeding me and let me sleep. They said I was very stubborn."

"Let's go," said Sasuke. "I want to take you home."

"Alright," Naruto nodded. Even though Sasuke was on a mission, he knew that the man would not leave it unless he thought that it wasn't important. "I can't wait to get home. Are you coming with us Sakura?"

"No," she said. "I have to finish this mission." Naruto smiled and turned to leave with Sasuke so that he could go back to the life that he had always wanted.

* * *

It took Naruto a week to convince everyone that he was truly alive, but then when he did there was a huge party celebrating his return. Soon after that he and Sasuke got married because neither of them wanted to wait any longer. It was a quick ceremony that was put together at a moment's notice, but practically the whole village was there. After that they lived happily ever after.

* * *

i realize this is quite a bit longer than the first half, but i hope you like Naruto's story just as well as Sasuke's


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